Google has released its first major update to the Search Quality Rater Guidelines since March.
Human evaluators use the Search Quality Rater Guidelines (PDF link) to assess the quality of search results. Although these guidelines don’t directly affect rankings, they provide useful insights into what Google views as high-quality content.
This update reflects Google’s evolving approach to determining quality, particularly regarding AI-generated content and new types of spam.
Here’s what you need to know.
Key Highlights From The January Update
1. Added Generative AI Definition
Section 2.1, “Important Definitions,” now formally addresses AI-generated content, providing clear guidance on how raters should evaluate machine-learning generated materials.
The definition reads:
“Generative AI is a type of machine learning (ML) model that can take what it has learned from the examples it has been provided to create new content, such as text, images, music, and code.”
2. Lower vs. Lowest Quality Content
Sections 4.0 through 4.6 have been substantially revised, introducing detailed subsections on new forms of spam and low-quality content. The update identifies three key areas of concern:
Expired Domain Abuse
“Expired domain abuse is where an expired domain name is purchased and repurposed primarily to benefit the new website owner by hosting content that provides little to no value to users.”
Site Reputation Abuse
“Site reputation abuse is a tactic where third-party content is published on a host site mainly because of that host site’s already-established ranking signals, which it has earned primarily from its first-party content.”
Scaled Content Abuse
“Scaled content abuse is a spam practice described in the Google Search Web Spam Policies. Scaled content abuse occurs when many pages are generated for the purpose of primarily benefiting the website owner and not helping users.”
The guidelines specifically address AI-generated content under scaled content abuse:
“Using automated tools (generative AI or otherwise) as a low-effort way to produce many pages that add little-to-no value for website visitors as compared to other pages on the web on the same topic.”
3. Identifying AI Generated Content
Section 4.7 provides specific examples of how to identify and rate AI-generated content. Under “Lowest: Scaled content abuse cancers,” the text reads:
“The contents of the page show it is created with generative AI with likely no original content and provides no value to users. For example, the article starts with ‘As a language model, I don’t have real-time data and my knowledge cutoff date is September 2021.’ The end of the text of the article appears to be cut off with an incomplete sentence ‘Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (NETs): Pancreatic NETs are a rare type of pancreatic cancer that can have a poor’”
4. New Technical Requirements
The guidelines now specify that raters must turn off ad blockers to ensure accurate evaluation:
“Some browsers such as Chrome automatically block some ads. As a rater, you are required to turn off any ad blocker capabilities of the browser you use to view webpages for rating tasks. Check your browser settings before rating tasks to ensure your ratings accurately reflect how people experience the page without ad blocking settings and extensions.”
Key Takeaways
Here are the key takeaways for content creators and SEO professionals:
- AI Content Strategy: The guidelines clarify that while AI tools can be used in content creation, the focus must be on providing unique value rather than mass-producing generic content.
- Quality Over Quantity: The expanded sections on spam and low-quality content emphasize Google’s continued focus on rewarding high-value, original content.
- Technical Considerations: The new ad blocker requirements suggest increased attention to how users experience web pages, including advertising.
Next Steps
When producing content for your website, keep these tips in mind:
- Focus on creating original, valuable content that serves user needs
- Avoid using AI tools to mass-produce content
- Ensure your content demonstrates genuine expertise and authenticity
- Pay attention to how your content appears to users with and without ad blockers
- Be particularly careful with YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) topics when using AI tools
Following these guidelines can help ensure you create content that aligns with Google’s quality standards.
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